College of Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China; Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou 450046, China.
College of Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China.
Eur J Protistol. 2021 Jun;79:125796. doi: 10.1016/j.ejop.2021.125796. Epub 2021 Apr 23.
Blastocystis is a common enteric protist that inhabits the gastrointestinal tract of approximately 1 billion people worldwide. In this study, a total of 1,070 patients from two hospitals in Zhengzhou, Central China were enrolled to know molecular characteristics of Blastocystis sp. The microorganism was identified and subtyped with a PCR amplification and sequencing of the small subunit ribosomal deoxyribonucleic acid (SSU-rDNA). The overall minimum prevalence of Blastocystis sp. in participants was 3.1% (33/1070). Although there were no significant differences on Blastocystis sp. infections among study sites, age groups, and gender, the higher infection was observed in the patients with gastrointestinal diseases (8.8%, 15/170). Sequence analysis of the 33 isolates revealed three known subtypes, such as ST1 (n = 7), ST3 (n = 23), and ST7 (n = 3). Among them, ST3 was the dominant subtype being detected in 23 isolates (69.7%), followed by ST1 (21.2%, 7/33) and ST7 (9.1%, 3/33). The phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that three subtypes (ST1, ST3 and ST7) were clustered with their reference sequences with good bootstrap support. The subtype determination of Blastocystis sp. isolates by the phylogenetic analysis was well supported by online platform. The present study provides the first molecular report of Blastocystis sp. infections in hospital patients in Central China.
芽囊原虫是一种常见的肠道原生动物，全球约有 10 亿人感染。本研究共纳入中国中部两个医院的 1070 例患者，以了解芽囊原虫的分子特征。采用聚合酶链反应（PCR）扩增和测序的方法对小亚基核糖体脱氧核糖核酸（SSU-rDNA）进行鉴定和亚型分型。研究人群中芽囊原虫的总体最低流行率为 3.1%（33/1070）。虽然研究地点、年龄组和性别之间的芽囊原虫感染率无显著差异，但在胃肠道疾病患者中观察到较高的感染率（8.8%，15/170）。对 33 个分离株的序列分析显示了三种已知的亚型，如 ST1（n=7）、ST3（n=23）和 ST7（n=3）。其中，ST3 是检测到的优势亚型，共 23 个分离株（69.7%），其次是 ST1（21.2%，7/33）和 ST7（9.1%，3/33）。系统发育分析表明，三种亚型（ST1、ST3 和 ST7）与参考序列聚类，具有良好的自举支持。芽囊原虫分离株的亚型确定也得到了在线平台的支持。本研究首次报道了中国中部医院患者的芽囊原虫感染情况。
